Meeting Minutes – March 1, 2025

Posted on Posted in Meeting Minutes
Meeting Minutes – March 1, 2025

Meeting Location: Rural Life Museum, 4560 Essen Ln, Baton Rouge

  • Fellowship before meeting
  • Collection of dues (Rick Albrecht) and selling of shirts and caps (Lee Owens)

Invocation and Pledge of Allegiance – Harold Choate

Welcome and Introduction of Guests – There were 22 members in attendance but no visitors were present. Brian Fitzgerald was the presenter during this meeting. His presentation was an informative discussion and demonstration of making a tool tote using hand tools, but as he noted power tools could be used. Brian is a past president of the Club and is now living in Texas. Our thanks to Brian for his continuing interest and participation in the Club.

Officer Reports:

  • Vice-President – George Campagna: George welcomed Brian Fitzgerald to the meeting and thanked him for coming such a long distance to be here. George indicated that the current schedule of Club meetings remains unchanged as of now. He announced that the next meeting will be at Keith Brian’s shop and that John Schatzle will be giving the Club tips and techniques on woodworking for the visually impaired woodworker. He encouraged Club members to check the schedule on line if they wished to see future Club meeting and events.
  • Secretary – Lee Soileaux: The last meeting was at PMC in Hammond on February 1st and featured a presentation on intarsia. The current meeting had 22 members in attendance and no visitors. There were 3 members who brought in projects for show and tell.
  • Treasurer – Rick Albrecht: The Club’s account balance as of the meeting was $5877.93. Club President Richard Robles asked Lee Owens whether he had any T-shirts and caps for sale. Lee said that he had several T-shirts in different sizes in long and short sleeves left and in a couple of different colors as well. He said there were no excuses for not having a Club T-shirt because “We’ve got you covered”, no pun intended, I’m sure.
  • Webmaster – Open
  • Community Service – Bob Pace: Lee Owens reported in Bob Pace’s stead. He reported that there are teams still working on building the chests of drawers for O’Brien House.
  • Education Outreach – Open

New and Ongoing Club Business

  • Dues for 2025: Rick Albrecht indicated that he collected no dues during the month. He has sent out a reminder email to members to urge them to pay their dues during the month of March as this will be the last opportunity to do so and avoid being removed from the Club’s active member list. At the end of March, Rick will make a list of paid-up members and circulate it to club members.
  • Zoo Event in April: This event will be on a Sunday, April 6th which will follow the Club meeting Saturday April 5th. Club Vice-President George Campagna urged members to continue making the wooden figurines and that he still has some two by fours to give out to those who need them. He asked members to make arrangements to bring them to him or for him to pick them up. He encouraged members to deliver the figurines as soon as they could and no later than this next meeting. George said that some volunteers have committed to work all day at the zoo or just the morning or afternoon. He said that they are running short of volunteers for the afternoon and could use some more volunteers for this time slot. Four members have donated the use of their drill presses for the event which should be sufficient. George estimated that there will be a minimum of nine members needed for each shift. So, please volunteer to help out. The event will run approximately from 9:00 to 5:00. Richard will send out an email giving details before the event.

Members Questions/Concerns

Safety Topic: There was discussion regarding the flesh sensing technology of the Saw Stop table saws. There was concern for the possibility of legislative action to mandate the use of the flesh sensing technology in all table saws and the impact this would have on the price of saws in general. It was agreed that prices would be drastically increased, however, it was pointed out that the price reflects the value one might place on one’s fingers. The Saw Stop is no better equipped to handle kickback than any other table saw with standard safety features of blade guard, anti-kickback pawls, and riving knife.

Skill Topic: Handheld Woodworking Tool Box – Brian Fitzgerald: Brian demonstrated how to make a Hand Held Tool Box with a minimum of hand tools. The design of the tool box is flexible so that dimensions could be modified to suit.

Adjourn